Filipino Logic: Blame it to the Authority

An afternoon TV News and social media program’s news anchor said that social media transforms not only Filipinos but also other users around the world into instant critiques judging every single statement they see or hear in their news feed. If you think about it, he has a point.

For some, a photo such as this one can tell lots of stories. The sad truth is that stories change when the photos collage, edited, and/or cropped. But photos such as this one tells nothing about the past.

A rally on October 19 at U.S. Embassy became trending when a Police Mobile rammed protesters. Of course, the GTA(Grand Thief Auto) move of PNP caught your attention and so as other Facebook users around the world. And believe me, more than half already decided that it was the PNP to blame. Of course, running over protesters is terrible but since you were playing critique here, you should also think if the video was cropped. In the original video, the police would only stand on their line in a defensive position, like Spartans, and they will only do that when the angry mob is charging. In the same video (if not yet edited), you can hear their leader shouting “walang mambabato!” while protestants throwing stones. A real critique looks not only what happens at the front but also at the back. These protesters are also the ones shouting their actions mean no harm. “peaceful” rally.

That’s our Filipino logic. We have that thing of blaming our mistakes to others and when we don’t want or can’t understand something, we take it as threat and blame the one who posed it. Even a single word of our own elected president means something that some Filipinos wants him impeached. It’s like blaming the interior designer of a mall for being too low that kids chose them as their ‘leap-of-faith’ spot.

Think about this. “If you didn’t do that in the first place, this won’t happen.”